Wife! Mom of 5! SharePoint Consultant. Beachbody coach!

clean diet

If you’ve ever heard of BulletProof coffee, you either love it, hate it, or just flat out think it’s a little strange. (lol) I drank it for quite a while and loved (still love) it. But, 4 cups of coffee a day with that many calories tends to leave you a little hungry. Or, it did me anyway.

Thanks to a wonderful friend, I have found an alternative. Brew a cup of coffee (I use my Keurig), add 1t coconut oil (personally use the flavored), and a few drops of vanilla flavored sweet drops (stevia).

Change is hard! It doesn’t matter what is going on in your life, where the change is (personal or work), change is hard. It is in our nature to live routine lives. Whether you realize it or not, you most likely have a pattern or certain order that you do things every single day. Getting ready to leave the house, for example. Get up, shower, get kids ready, eat, etc. Whatever your routine, wherever it lies in the day, you’ve got ’em.

Changing these routines is scary and can be stressful if not done for the right reasons. Working out, for example. If you have to do it rather than want to do it, it’s much harder to make time for it. If it’s not in your routine already, it is very likely that you laugh at adding anything else to your day – especially a workout. (I get it! Trust me! 5 kiddos (okay, only 4 at home) and a full time job – I get it! <3) But I’d be willing to bet you could fit 30 minute workouts into that routine of yours.

Here’s the thing, though. Sometimes you gotta be at your breaking point before you’ll either consider it or seriously make the time for it. (Yes – MAKE the time – you won’t find it if you look for it.) Breaking point = your point of no return, your hard limit of “I am not gaining another pound”, “I am not wearing those pants anymore!” Whatever it is, everyone has one.

My favorite excuse used to be “I don’t have time”. I didn’t have time to prepare healthy food, so I ate what was easy (and typically not healthy). I didn’t have time to workout and was absolutely not getting up any earlier to do it. (After all, I need my sleep more, right?!)

Mine was when I could no long fit into my size 14 jeans. I had had my 5th child, and been back to work for a year and a half. I went to get dressed one day and a size 14 was no longer comfortable. I was also fluctuating between 170 and 180 pounds and am only 5’4″. I knew I was going to have to go shopping and bump up to a size 16. Regardless of details; I was done.

Without a second thought, I started doing Zumba on my XBox 360 and absolutely loved it. It was hard. Taking 30-60 minutes out of my time with my husband or my kids just so I could work out. But, I did it. I lost about 20lbs this way, Zumba at home. Then I realized maybe I should start eating less. I had heard of MyFitnessPal so figured I’d start tracking my calories. This worked wonderfully! I lost another 20lbs. A total of 40 pounds in 6 months! I was ecstatic.

Right here is where everything kind of plateaued for me. I kept working out and counting calories. But I wasn’t consistently pushing myself harder, wasn’t watching what I was eating, just how much I was eating. I reached another downfall in 2014. That is when everything really began to change for me (more on that later). But, the point is, even as a mother of 5 working outside the house full time, I made a point to change my life.

My family is worth me spending 30-60 minutes a day on me. The happier and healthier I am the better off my entire family is. I know this is a pretty blunt statement, and I’m sorry if it is offensive, but it’s true. You’ve got to take care of you! So, what’s your breaking point?

This recipe seems to be a mix of a couple different ones that I have tried with similar ingredients. I think what I have done is picked and chosen which ingredients I like from different ones I’ve tried and made it my own. I can say it is definitely delicious and pretty satisfying too!

Ingredients

1/2 large avacado

1/2 yellow onion

1 roma tomato

1T spicy, brown mustard

1t mayo (vegan mayo works too)

Garlic salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste but light)

Whole wheat or Multi-grain pita

Chop the avacado, onion and tomato and mix in bow. Add mustard, mayo and spices and mix together. Place mixture into each half of the pita bread and enjoy!

If you are calorie focused – like me – here are you approximate calories Onion ~ 16, Avacado ~ 161, Tomato ~ 11, Mayo ~ 22, Mustard ~ 0, Whole Wheat Pita ~ 150, Total ~ 360. (These numbers are based on numbers found in the calorie app I use to track my food and may or may not be accurate.)